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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



all to be found in the Astor Library and the 

 American Geographical Society's maps and 

 atlases — that the root of the name America 

 was widely scattered over Central and South 

 America at the time of the conquest. It ap- 

 pears in the kingdom of Amarca, Caxamarca 

 (or Peru), in Amaraca on the west coast of 

 Central America, and in the forms Cundin 

 Amarca (Bogota), Tamaraqua, Amaracapand, 

 Caxamaraca, Andamaraca, Cataraarca, and 

 many others, applied to various places, which 

 are indicated on the maps with which the 

 pamphlet is illustrated. As the authorities 

 for these statements are fully described and 

 easily accessible, students have ample oppor- 

 tunity for verifying or refuting Mr. St. Bris's 

 theory. In further confirmation of these 

 views, M. Marcou asserts that Vespucci's 

 name was Alberico, or Albert, and never 

 Amerigo, till he had returned from his 

 American voyage and had adopted or been 

 given a name commemcrating his travels. 



Changes on the Zambesi. — According to 

 the observations of British Consul O'Neill, 

 of Mozambique, the Zambesi River is work- 

 ing out important changes in its course near 

 Maruru. About six miles south of the po- 

 sition of his camp was a long, swampy lake, 

 which once formed the course of the river. 

 Some obstruction in the bed of the stream 

 deflected its course to the northward, and 

 the old bed was left as a still lake or back- 

 water, which is now filled only from its east- 

 ern extremity. This alteration has made 

 great havoc on the northern bank of the 

 river, where the rush of waters has torn and 

 continues to tear away the country which 

 separates the Zambesi from the Mutu and 

 Barabango and other swampy depressions 

 that drain into the Quaqua or Quillimane 

 River. A little more than two years ago the 

 African Lakes Company purchased a house 

 at Maruru which stood eight hundred or one 

 thousand yards from the river-bank. When 

 Consul O'Neill visited the place in April, 

 1884, the river was running swiftly past the 

 front walls of the house, the foundations of 

 which it had already sapped. The front 

 rooms had fallen in, and only the back part 

 of the house was habitable. These changes 

 are destined, of course, to make considerable 

 changes in the delta of the Zambesi, and in 

 the depth of channels now navigable. No 



improvement has taken place in the method 

 of navigating the Zambesi, and no attempt 

 has been made to improve it since it was 

 first ridden upon more than three hundred 

 years ago. Boats which will just do on a 

 still-water canal, have to be forced against a 

 powerful current, " at times with oars, at 

 times with paddles, at times pulled along 

 shore with the crew harnessed to a rope, not 

 unfrequently swept into mid-stream by the 

 strength of the current, and turned like a 

 top." 



The American System of Water-Pnrifi- 

 cationi — As described by Frof. Albert R. 

 Leeds, this comprises three distinct features : 

 artificial aeration under pressure ; precipita- 

 tion of dirt, sewage, hardening constituents, 

 and coloring matters by harmless precipi- 

 tants ; and mechanical filtration through fil- 

 ters capable of rapid reversal of current, 

 and cleansing by mechanical means. Arti- 

 ficial aeration was first applied to a city 

 water-supply, by Prof. Leeds, in Pliiladel- 

 phia, in consequence of an extremely offen- 

 sive taste and odor developed in the Schuyl- 

 kill water, in January and February, 1883. 

 This treatment has produced a marked im- 

 provement, as shown by analysis, in the 

 quality of the water of a number of cities 

 which have employed it, has corrected the 

 offensive taste and odor, and has stopped 

 the growth of green scum in reservoirs. Ilis 

 reasons for advocating the use of air under 

 pressure arc, first, because the disagreeable 

 taste and odor in unpotable water are fre- 

 quently due to gaseous and volatile impuri- 

 ties, which can be largely swept out of the 

 water by the use of an excess of air acting 

 mechanically as a deodorizer and disinfect- 

 ant, thereby exerting a sweetening action in 

 the manner of a water-scrubber; and, second, 

 because chemical and biological analyses 

 show that where sewage is being broken up 

 it is in presence of large numbers of bacteria, 

 which grow and multiply upon this material. 

 Through the vital processes of these bacteria 

 oxygen is rapidly absorbed and carried to 

 the sewage, which is thereby broken up into 

 nitrites, nitrates, carbon dioxide, and other 

 partly or wholly oxidized compounds. After 

 the work of these microbes is completed, 

 they either perish or remain as resting spores, 

 and then they should be removed, together 



